UPDATED 15:02 EDT / JULY 25 2016

NEWS

Illinois voters at risk in recent data breach

Illinois voters took the time to make their voices heard, and in return, they received a data breach. The online voter registration portal has recently suffered from a hack, and as a result, voter registrants are at risk of having their personal information stolen.

According to BatBlue, the Illinois State Board of Elections discovered a breach on July 12, which may have compromised the data for multitudes of voters. The full extent is not yet known, but it could have compromised information such as names, addresses, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.

While that’s not as bad as one’s full Social Security number, those four digits alone can be used to do no small amount of damage. However, Illinois News Network notes, as voters registering would use either their driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers, those who had one stolen would not have put the other at risk.

Fortunately, the breach did not include the voters’ digitized signatures or voting histories. The Chicago Sun Times notes that the voter system was shut off as soon as the breach was found, and the board assures voters that no information was altered.

All it took was a small opening, a minor weakness in one data field in the online registration system, and the hacker could get in. However, this should not discourage anyone from voting, as elections loom in the near future. We have a right to our vote and voice, and data breaches and hacks do not take that away.

photo credit: MikePence-DonaldTrump via photopin (license)

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